Commentaire descriptif

Clancy’s parents are excited to be moving into their big, new house. Clancy is not. His mother leads him through the cavernous rooms, as the boy wistfully recalls cozy memories from the old house. Soft-textured illustrations in a pastel chalk and wash effect use colour and space to emphasize Clancy’s emotional responses to his new home. Windows lurk high in the walls, his furniture is dwarfed by the size of his new room. Outside, a giant stack of moving boxes teeters whimsically up to the sky. As Clancy plays among them, a little girl named Millie approaches and asks to play too. The plain language uses simple but expressive words and phrases, such as “He flops down . . .” and “Clancy pushes them and pokes them.” It also accurately reflects the negotiation and discussion among children at play: “I must be the first little pig and you must be the big bad wolf . . . .” Young readers may recall their own experiences of moving to a new house, city or country, and all will have had experience playing with a box of one size or another. Upon building the third and strongest box-house, Clancy finally declares it, “a very fine dwelling.” In a touching finish, Clancy and Millie are seen climbing the stairs into Clancy’s family’s new home.